Ah, the side hustle. More commonly known as the “second job,” side hustles are a badass, creative, independent—yet completely romanticized—way to increase your income. They’ve become a symbol of entrepreneurial go-gettership, a way to show the world that your ideas and goals are far too important to contain in a single 9-5. Side hustlers are super humans with the energy and vision to Get Shit Done.

Or at least, that’s the rhetoric we all perpetuate by romanticizing the side hustle.

Let’s call a spade a spade. A side hustle is a goddamn second job, and if you have one it means either a) your first job is failing to pay the bills, or b) you’re willing to trade all of your free time in order to retire early because your job sucks and doesn’t pay enough to achieve this goal. Neither scenario is particularly inspiring or empowering.

I’m not saying we should all revolt against the concept of side hustles and give up our efforts to make extra money. You can pry my side hustle from my cold, dead hands, as a matter of fact. But I think a dose of realism is in order lest we get carried away romanticizing the side hustle.

Likewise, the side hustle. Or rather, as most Americans making minimum wage call it, the second job. It’s something the poor have done out of necessity for ages. But now we slap the fancy label of “side hustle” on the packaging and suddenly it’s a glamorous vocation!

Really what you’re saying with your side hustle is “I am not making enough money to meet my goals with one full time job so I need a second one.” Or even worse: “If I rest I’ll lose my home.”

But I like my side hustle…

This is not to say that the practice of side hustling is totally unhealthy, evil, or self-defeating. Far from it! I myself have a couple of side hustles going (freelance editing, babysitting), and I find them both emotionally and financially rewarding. And not because I’m a workaholic or a masochist (though I am absolutely both). I’ll freely admit that even if my salary was $30k more per year, I’d likely still keep up my side hustles, partially because I enjoy them and partially because I relish the idea of making as much money as possible so I can say FUCK YOU to The Man as soon as possible.

I am not alone in this. And if side hustles were just a convenient way to make “extra” cash, then there wouldn’t be a problem. But for many people, they are neither a convenient way to make extra cash, nor a road to self-employment. They’re a way of literally making ends meet because your full-time job does not pay you enough to cover your basic living expenses.

Leisure time is meant for leisure

The biggest drawback to the side hustle is its unique ability to murder your free time. If you work an eight-hour day only to come home and work another four hours on your side hustle before squeezing in a shower, a food, and a sleep, then at what point do you take a break? At what point do you read a book, catch up on the news, learn a new skill, clean your house, spend time with your family, walk your dog?

For some, a side hustle is a necessary buffer between them and homelessness. For others, it’s a great way to pad savings and investments. And for others, it’s a stepping stone along the transition toward full-time self-employment. It can be a rewarding way of making your hobby your career, of meeting your financial goals faster, and of monetizing your free time.

So let’s cut the shit. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a grueling and not entirely voluntary way of trading your precious spare time for money because you really, really need that money.

Side hustle if you need to or want to. But don’t kid yourself about this trendy new mode of financial freedom. For far too many it’s just another form of struggling to make ends meet.

22 thoughts to “Romanticizing the Side Hustle”

On point as usual, bitches! P.S. I can tell I’ve now fully converted to your unique flavor of actionable advice + critique of our current American economic system, because now every time I see BgR in my inbox, I do a little “ooh!” of excitement and click through immediately even if I’m supposed to be finishing my taxes *cough*.

We are beautiful, complicated animals. We can paint pictures, plant flowers, write novels, save whales, and watch every single episode of Terrace House on Netflix. If you don’t need a side hustle, don’t get a side hustle! Pick one of the many wonderful, fulfilling activities life affords you and go do that instead. The Bitches smile upon your hustle-less-ness.

Particularly when I look at the sizes of properties here vs the US. I can almost understand the desire to downsize in that case…. but here the standard is Pretty Darn Small and I do not want to go any smaller. (My next post this week is called I don’t want to live on less, btw…)

Right? They’re infuriating. I think the speak to our American need to do everything in extremes. Tired of living in only half of an impractical McMansion? Don’t just buy a small house! Buy a TINY house that prioritizes decorating over storage!

Even the term “hustle” comes from poor culture, specifically, drug and pimp culture. Why the middle class gotta steal all our shit?

On topic: When I first started blogging several months ago, I saw where bloggers kept referring to side-hustles. I thought they were dropping off quarter bags after they got off work. No. They were just talking about part time jobs. While I fully support side-hustles, I don’t think they’re great on the long term. We need time to relax and enjoy life.

The side hustle originated during slavery to make money behind the slave owners back because as you know it was forced free labor, hence, side hustle: to get paid for services unbeknownst to the slave owners. Fast forward: 2017, A side hustle has in fact been an epic part of African American people due to oppressive socioeconomic inequality. The side hustles money remained largely unreported thus; Hustle, selling dinners, selling snacks to neighborhood kids and no permit, drug dealing, hood daddy (sugar daddy in the hood) etc. So, for African Americans a side hustle is unreported income to keep bills paid and enjoy some of the perks as well. Now you white people now have to get second jobs aka SECOND JOBS…NOT A SIDE HUSTLE BECAUSE ITS A REPORTED INCOME. All in all…WELCOME TO OUR WORLD.

It’s weird because I consider my side hustle (my blog) to also be a hobby, but, if I not careful, I don’t get enough
computer-free time in, thus making my butt hurt and my back ache. It’s all such a delicate, delicate balance.

lol – I love this post! My list of 23 side hustles is full of things that were really just ‘second jobs’ that I *needed* to survive month to month.

Thankfully my current 9-5 is more than enough for my family to thrive on, but it hasn’t always been that way. I hope my ‘side hustle’ blog can help out someone that might be in the middle of a grind is just living to fight another day! Keep fighting. Work that second job. Make smart money decisions and after a while your situation will improve. It doesn’t always happen as fast as we’d like, but it will happen if you stick with it.

I do feel for those who are juggling with essentially a second job. No one is talking about how to fix stagnant wages because the issues is so much more complicated than listing off AirBnB and Rover as a solution. All I can think about is that episode where Homer gets a second job at the quik-e-mart in order to support Lisa’s pony and he’s so tired he falls asleep with his head stuck between the sliding doors lol. Awww…

Refreshing honesty, though I wouldn’t use the colorful language you do.

There is way too much romanticising in FIRE. There’s talk about not trying to keep up with the Jones. It seems to me that’s exactly what many in the community are doing. There are models of FIRE to which many aspire to become. Comparing is never a good thing to do.

So, if you don’t have a side hustle making a gazillion dollars a year, you’re failing. Though many bloggers talk about their successful side hustles, you’re so right about the reasons many have them. It’s to make ends meet. We’re kind of living in a bubble right now. The stock market is up for ten years. Many investors have never experienced anything but this kind of market.

Unemployment is low according to the stats. But that’s the reality. More people have given up looking for jobs so they aren’t counted.

I appreciate you two keeping it real. I wish more bloggers would, though with less colorful language. Then again, be true to yourself.

Thanks for the thoughtful comment, Fred! If you’re looking for more PG blogs that still keep it real, I recommend shepicksuppennies.com. Penny might still swear, but definitely not as much as we do. She’s also brilliant and insightful. It would feel disingenuous to clean up our language at this point. 😉